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Monday, February 24, 2014

Blog Tour: A Canter of the Heart

Women's Fiction / Romance

Date Published: 12/30/2013

A beautiful Australian para-equestrian, Eleanor, is rudely awakened the morning after her twentieth birthday to face two pressing problems: the first, though she refuses to accept it, is that she's been told by many acquaintances and relations that she'll never find true love, and the second being, though she doesn't know it yet, that she can't even get up the steps to visit the blasted night-club with her mates! What no one knows is that one random act of chivalry, at the hands of a handsome American naval flight officer, is about to turn her world upside down. The heartfelt and sometimes harrowing journey that follows is as humorous as it is inspirational.

A Canter of the Heart is the romance of a new millennium, a story that you've never heard before, and one that should take its place amongst the iconic romances of our time. But most importantly, it is a romance that will speak, most unapologetically, to your heart. A Canter of the Heart is the first book in ‘The Equestrian and the Aviator’ trilogy that sets our intrepid heroine on the journey of a lifetime. The first thing that you will no doubt discover is that Eleanor, fickle girl that she is, has already found the love of her life – her inspiring love of horses.

This trilogy is based on a true story, and is a testament to the therapeutic riding programs offered by the Riding for the Disabled Association of Australia. It is dedicated to the many remarkable, selfless people who made and continue to make those programs possible.

Marketing! I love the scenes from movies like 'Romancing the Stone' and 'As
good as it gets,' where the author remorse’s over the last few lines, types
them onto the page and then shouts 'done!' then proceeds to celebrate. The
irony is palpable! What actually comes next is the hardest part of writing –
editing - and on the heals of months of editing comes the hardest part of all –
marketing and promotion. I would love to go back to those blissful dreams of
completing a book, handing it off to a publisher and going on to the next book,
but being an 'Indie' author has its drawbacks.

What songs are most played on your Ipod?

For reasons which have little to do with the
lyrics, I enjoy 'Down Under' by Men at Work which helps me overcome short bouts
of writer's block, but I also enjoy a lot of eighties and nineties music like
the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, Van Halen, Depeche Mode, U2 and so on. It
was very sad to hear about Greg Ham; his flute riff really made 'Down Under'
what it was.

Do you have critique partners or beta readers?

I have a good friend, a brilliant multidisciplinary
visual artist in Australia who always reads through my work, and a great published
author and copy-editor in France at edit-my-books.com, who has improved my
writing immeasurably. I've also worked with some great fellow Indie authors, as
well as readers on Goodreads, who help me out with reviews and recommendations.

What book are you reading now?

I'm currently reading 'A
Light in the Cane Fields' by Enrico Antiporada and I just bought 'Heads Above
Water' by Stephanie Dagg and 'The Girl who Sang with Whales' by Marc Secchia.
Lately I'm reading anything I can get my hands on, which is why I'm so fond of
Goodreads. I've never felt so in-touch with the writing community until I
really got involved with the programs and groups on Goodreads.

Mainstream fiction is
okay, you might say it's the 'McDonalds' of fiction, where you know what you're
going to get, but indie books are the 'wild west' of fiction right now, which
may be a little bit hit and miss, but I find the writing to be much more fun to
read, because anything can happen, and often times those are the most
satisfying books to read.

How did you start your writing career?

I finally got tired of making excuses and started
writing. It wasn't easy, but as I got further into it, the story took on a life
of its own. When the characters started choosing their own paths and making
their own decisions, that's when writing really became fun.

I'm working on two books right now, the first is
the second book in 'The Equestrian and the Aviator' series and the other book
is a science fiction action/romance set during a time when illegal underground
DNA experimentation is being manipulated by large pharmaceutical companies and
clandestine government factions.

E.E. West

I've been a resident of the Pacific Northwest for the better part of two decades, and blithely accept life in the shadows of the nesting grounds of bald eagles while ensconced amidst the company of wild, damp and understandably nervous bunnies. I prefer to write at the dining room table, where the light is better and I can work next to Simon, the sweetest one hundred and twenty pound Rottweiler that you're ever likely to meet -- except when he's in the mood to editorialize, which he is only on rare occasions. I much prefer to write love stories that take place in warm, sunny and exotic locales as I admire and rate the latest downpour direct from the Pacific Northwest's over-active convergence zone, but in my heart I will forever be drawn back to the lucky country... Australia... and maybe one more lovely canter along an endless beach.